Krishna, as a God of Blue

[dawn90]

Why is Krishna Blue?

 

"Sadhguru: Blue is the color of all-inclusiveness. You will see in the existence, anything that is vast and beyond your perception generally tends to be blue, whether it is the ocean or the sky. Anything which is larger than your perception tends to be blue because blue is the basis of all-inclusiveness. It is based on this that so many gods in India are shown as blue-skinned. Shiva has a blue skin, Krishna has a blue skin, Rama has a blue skin. It is not that their skin was blue. They were referred to as blue gods because they had a blue aura."

 

Article: https://isha.sadhguru.org/global/en/wisdom/article/why-is-krishna-blue

 

So, my question is simple: what are your thoughts on that? To me and I'll tell you my opinion it seems like the most reasonable and realistic explanation that I've come across just surfing through the internet. Is he right - because gods might've been regular people that emanated something of an aura, and the people who painted them picked up on that. And that's how you get the blue skin.

What is it with the color blue. And to push it further: how do you link it with Platos description I think of Atlantis being this idyllic heaven where Poseidon as it seems got to it or made it in his own image. And Poseidon just happened to be the god of the sea.

 

I'm not going to advance myself but it seems to me there might be a powerful link between Poseidon being a blue and the Hindu gods like Krishna, in that they were blue aura individuals; now that's just my take on it. And the gods in general, their color, could be - not symbolic - but an actual manifestation of their, aura.

 

I'd especially like the history buffs to get on this, and tell us. If there's a link on this.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by dawn90

[neti neti]

From a quick search... My first inclination as to why is in agreement with this assessment... and is much more clearly written than I could aspire to. Hope this helps.

 

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"Until about 150 years ago, Krushna was generally depicted with black complexion - jet black or variations of black. Even the folios from Akber's copy of Shrimaad Bhagvatam commissioned (1600s) and pic of ShriNathji prior to 1850s. Most stone and wooden statues of Krushna were also black at this point. Metal images were the only ones that were "fair" or golden.

 

By the time of Pahari paintings (1800s), Krushna is light blue in colour and no longer black.

Even in Rajasthan, Krushna becomes lighter shade of black. Even Shrinathji becomes indigo blue in popular depiction.

 

Now-a-days, most stone statues of Krushna are made of white marble and he is depicted white - despite the fact that marble can be painted in shade of any colour they want. Indeed, most marble statues are painted with clothes and jewels so they could paint it black if they want. All current representation of Krushna, even on calendar art, is waterdown version of black / blue.

 

This "gorification" (making everything ‘fair’ (white)) of our ancient heroes is mainly because society now values fair skin colour above a dark one. This could be because we were ruled by fair and white skinned people for a number of centuries, making us - the commoners - consider fair skin to be a pre-requisite for power and position. I know - a bit too much pseudo psychology that smacks of reverse racism but i can't explain it any other way.

 

As to why Krushna is black –
* Krush + na = He who attracts. Black colour absorbs heat. Black colour absorbs energy. As we know, black hole even attracts light ! So Krushna is literally, he who attracts and absorbs all things around him. He attracted the souls of the good and the great and even wicked people when they died, merged with Krushna. No one – not even the evil is rejected. Such is the compassion of Krushna !

 

* Black is the colour of space and ether. Krushna is as boundless and endless as space.

 

Vishnu has come to earth in many hues and skin tones. According to scriptures, he has even been white, golden, red and black. God can taken on any form, so a specific colour is of no big deal. God has come as a fish, boar, wild man with lionian head, brahmin, kshtriya, vaishya (Yadava) to show that divinity exists in any and every form. Species, race, ethnicity, gender, colour, these are only labels. God exists beyond them all. God is reflected in the soul of every creature in the universe. Let us embrace God in every hue possible."

 

 

And another interesting perspective...

 

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Trust me, the answer to “why is Krishna described in scriptures as black or dark” is far more interesting than the answer to “how did he end up being portrayed as predominantly blue.”

 

The short answer is he is both black and blue, so it’s ok to paint him blue. However, almost all ancient deities of Krishna are jet black. These deities are much older than any painting. It is also stated in the Bhagavata Purana that he is crystal clear, and that he is lord and source of color (Ranganatha).

 

Hinduism is so scientific, cosmic and universal that it boggles the mind. Every Hindu God or concept has some parallel in the observable Universe. And even according to modern science, the universe is not all material. In contrast, baryonic or atomic matter makes up a small portion of the mostly dark and seemingly infinite universe.

 

Lord Krishna while being all-attractive, is also majestically radiant. Vishnu is also known as Surya Narayana, our sun is simultaneously attractive (gravitationally) and radiant, but certainly not black. So then why is Krishna black?

The irony is that the most powerful, massive, energetic and luminous objects in the universe ARE black and supremely attractive.

 

To find out what and who I’m talking about, you have to journey to the center of the milky way galaxy. Our solar system and billions of other stars, planets etc. are doing “parikrama” around that supremely massive and powerful center, which in its core contains a supermassive black hole and a gravitational singularity (which is really an “infinity”).

 

The singularity is where Albert Einstein’s Relativity Theory and all our best mathematics break down and reach the “monstrosity” of infinitude… even worse these beloved tools (mathematics and theoretical physics) collapse into recursive infinities while trying to calculate and understand that universal edge-point known as the singularity.

What we know as the vishnu-nabhi, vaikuntha, goloka, abode of Krishna (the supreme center as my guru’s guru would call it) is according to bhagavata cosmology, located in the milky way’s galactic center—what scientists call a “supermassive black hole.” Supermassive black holes are arguably the greatest, most magnificent “things” in our Universe. They are the centers/cores/hearts/atmas/souls of galaxies.

 

If you study the basics of astrophysics and you have background in any flavor Hinduism (I was raised with Vaishnavism and read Bhagavata Purana for years) then it quickly becomes clear that God or Krishna is not just conceptually supreme, but also represents a universal phenomenon that tends to be supreme in every way you can think of.

 

Black holes are masters of the universe, essential to the formation of everything, creation, preservation and destruction. Beyond these processes, inside black holes is something which for scientists is completely frustrating—the singularity… infinite nature, infinite curvature, density—and space, time or coordinates have no place inside a singularity.

 

How can something so black, important and powerful be so tiny and take up precisely zero space? Ask Lord Krishna! He is after all the trickster. In his mouth/stomach Yashoda saw the whole universe before her eyes. Brahma tried to search out his origin being going down the lotus stem into the navel of Vishnu, but he could not find the answer. So he came back up, meditated on it and within his heart the answer finally manifested. That answer is what bhagavata dharma is about, for me at least. Knowing the unknowable partially through the mind, but fully with the heart and acting upon it here on earth. Bhakti Yoga is an amazing system for actualizing this process. There are many wonderful systems, but the original system is the human form itself. Our bodies, minds and hearts are capable of understanding the universe with incredible clarity. The Vedas originated in cosmic sound vibration which ultimately evolved into life."

 

[dwai]

My experience with Krishna was light. So brilliant was the light that you can’t look — it’s like looking into the sun as it comes closer and closer to you, and accompanied by high pitch ringing sound in the ears. All I could do, is close my eyes and say “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!” 
 

But Lord Vishnu is blue. Lord Shiva, when I saw him, was turquoise or aquamarine. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by dwai

[dawn90]

That's interesting, Neti.

[neti neti]

I thought so too, dawn! 

[neti neti]

On 7/19/2020 at 12:57 AM, dawn90 said:

That's interesting, Neti.

 

From, Nothing is Everything, Dec 29, 1979

 

V = Visitor

M = Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

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M: ...What do you see with closed eyes?

V: Nothing.

M: You see deep blue or deep black. The body functions as long as That can be seen. It is called Megha Shyam or dark-complexioned Krishna and also as Savla Ram or dark-complexioned Ram.

V: You have told us that we are already perfect before doing anything. The only requirement is proper understanding.

 

M: At other places you will be asked to do this and that. It is their business. A Jnani is the knower of the transition from the no knowing state to the knowing state.
When you wake up from sleep, who comes to know it?

V: The consciousness.

M: With closed eyes you see the deep blue or black. On opening the eyes you see first the space and then the other things.

 

A rare disciple of a Sage declares that he has found his eternal dwelling place.

The timeless is beyond being and non-being.

 

 

 

[neti neti]

[neti neti]

[neti neti]

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Great Unity

 

有一物上拄天下拄地。黒似漆。常在動用中。

 

"There is one thing: above, it supports Heaven; below, it upholds Earth. It is black like lacquer, always actively functioning."

 

Ch'an master Tung-shan Ling-chia (洞山良价 Tõsan Ryõkai, 807-869)

(The Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch 74)

 

[Tesla3]

@neti neti  That illustration of Lord Krishna is awesome! I like seeing him depicted with black skin tone. Krishna always having a dark complexion in the past is quite interesting.

[old3bob]

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Edited August 9, 2020 by old3bob